ANW Carl Fantauzzo breaks it down with The Fit Mob
Carl Fantauzzo American Ninja Warrior Competitor
& Owner of The Warrior Factory
"Always remember to set small goals along your way and never settle,
always keep pushing to be a better version of yourself in all facets of life."
What best prepared you for your run on ANW? Since there were no ninja gyms in the area my first season competing I transformed my entire basement into a ninja workout area. What is a ninja workout area, well basically I replicated a bunch of obstacles I had seen on previous seasons of the show and trained on those. Some of the obstacles I replicated were the Salmon Ladder, Cliff Hanger and Cannonball alley. A big part of my ninja training came from calisthenics, because of my age, 40 at the time, I transitioned from traditional weight training to something I deemed more applicable to Ninja Warrior. Body control and awareness is crucial if want to be successful on the course so calisthenics was the perfect fit.
You have an amazing Gym, The Warrior Factory - what is your mission?
After my third season of competing I was completely hooked on everything ninja warrior, I was in the best shape of my life both mentally and physically. Other ninjas in the small community I had been running with were opening gyms in their area and I thought…hmmm. My goal from the beginning was to create a ninja community right here in my hometown of Rochester, NY where I was born and raised. I wanted to reach both kids and adults, I wanted them to experience what changed my life in hopes of changing theirs. The Factory is not geared toward any age in particular, we have the ability to convert the entire facility into either an adult friendly or kid friendly environment in less than an hour. We have obstacles that suit every caliber of athlete or non athlete. Our main draw is kids ages 7-13 and that’s exactly what we want. In a day and age where kids are spending most of their time behind a phone, iPad or game console, The Warrior Factory’s mission is to get these kids off the couch and introduce them to a new, fun way to burn energy, while overcoming both physical and mental obstacles.
Many kids look up to you, what would you suggest as they become ANW hopefuls?
The best piece of advice I can give and do give to all my students is never give up, this translates to life as well as fitness. Confidence is so important in this sport and the way to build confidence is through training and hard work. I like to stress to everyone that I meet that it’s important to set small attainable goals and to make sure they get a little better every time they train. The Ninja community is a very unique community in that we are all here for each other, we all share training tips and tricks. At the end of it all we are all trying to conquer the course, not beat the other competitors. No matter how far along you are on your journey in both life and fitness, most everything can be overcome with perseverance!
Do you follow any specific fitness regime or diet?
I train 5 days a week for about an hour a day in strictly a calisthenics based work-out. Most people don’t think you can get very strong without traditional weight training, what they don’t realize is that traditional weight training does very little to strengthen your core because most of the time you’re either sitting or lying on a stable surface. Core strength is the secret to super strength, our core surrounds are entire body therefore it ties our lower body to our upper body and allows us to function a one unit. Needless to say every muscle group I train incorporates some kind of instability so that I’m always working my core. As for diet, I don’t take any supplements, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to this, I like to eat a balanced diet as much as possible and try and keep my calorie intake to 2500/day
Ok ok... what's your cheat meal?
With that said ^^^ my ultimate cheat meal is a pepperoni pizza followed by chocolate chip cookies! Everything in moderation right?
What is next for Carl?
What’s next for me is more Warrior Factory’s in NY, my business partner and I have just secured a space in Buffalo for our second location and we are officially a franchise now as well. Hoping to see a Warrior Factory in every state some day! Love to be able not not only change lives in my hometown but all across the nation. And of course I’ll be trying out for my sixth season of American Ninja Warrior in 2019, the training must go on!!
IG: carlfan IG: thewarriorfactory FB: /carl.fantauzzo FB: /The Warrior Factory www.thewarriorfactory.com